Disclaimer: Nope, these characters aren't mine.

Category: VRA
Classification: MSR
Rating: PG
Spoilers: The Truth.
Archive: Gossamer. Spookys. Further X. Others ask me.
Summary: Scully must fill in the gaps.
Thanks to: MD and Sara Lynn for their much appreciated assistance.

"About William"
by Lisa 
haven599@msn.com


   Mulder shifted on the bed and reached out for Scully.  He felt 
no one beside him.  It couldn't have been that he dreamed about 
holding Scully in his arms as they both drifted off to sleep.  

   Opening his eyes, he spied her curled up in a chair by the window
looking sad.  It was dark.  The middle of the night, he guessed,
since she was still wearing her robe.  

   "Scully, what's wrong?" 

   She glanced up at him with tears in her eyes.  "I dreamed about 
William again."  

   Before he could say anything, she uncurled herself from the 
old, padded chair and went over to her suitcase.  "I want to show
you something."  She came back to the bed holding a small book.

   Mulder switched on the light beside the bed as she climbed back
in next to him.  It was a blue photo album that read "Baby's First
Pictures" covered with small teddy bears and baby rattles.  
"Scully . . ."

   "It's okay," she said as she handed the book over to him. 
"Open it."   

   He opened the cover tentatively and saw his son sleeping in his 
bassinet. He looked very young, perhaps only a few days old. 
There was a message on the bottom that read in colorful block 
lettering "It's a Boy!" 

   "That was taken about a week after he was born with one of those
disposable cameras with message banners on each picture," she 
informed him.  

   There was a few more of him sleeping.  Mulder wished he could
have been there to watch over his son, to cradle him in his arms
as he slept.  

   "The proud grandmother?" he asked.  There was a photo of Mrs.
Scully holding their son and smiling.  

   "She was, but after I told her I gave him up for adoption she 
hasn't spoken to me." 

   He looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes.  "I'm sorry,
Scully," he said squeezing her hand.  "But your mother can't 
really understand the danger he was in with you. She can't really
understand what our lives are like."

   "I know," she whispered.  "But I hope one day she'll forgive
me for what I had to do."  

   He turned the page to find an older shot of William with a smile
on his face looking up into the camera.  "He looks happy." 

   "We were on the floor playing and he looked so cute, so I 
grabbed the camera and took too many pictures, but that one was
my favorite."

   Mulder flipped over a few more pages of William sleeping. 

   "It's hard to hold a baby and a camera.  Those were the only
times I could get some photos," she said. 

   "Did he like his picture being taken?" 

   "Not at first, but I believe he started to humor me," she told 
Mulder.  "I'm glad I took as many as I did considering what 
happened," she said tearfully.  

   "We can stop if this is too much." 

   "No, I want you to see them," she replied.  "They're all we have 
left of our son."

   The last two photos were of Scully holding William.

 One with his little arms stretched out towards her face and the
other with her lips pressed against his forehead.  

   "Monica took those," she informed him.  "She came over one
night and offered to take some . . ." 

   Mulder heard her voice fill with tears when she began that last 
sentence.  Now they were running down her cheeks.  This was too
much for her now.  He closed the album and set it down on the 
nightstand.  

   He shifted around her on the bed so that she was nestled between
his legs.  His arms came around her waist.  

   "No, I'm fine.  Really," she said.  "It's better that I talk about
him.  I've had no one to talk to about what I did.  No one could
understand." 

   "I understand," he whispered against her hair.  "Tell me 
everything about William." 

++++
END (1/1)